COMU Applies to ‘Take Over’ Troy Excavations

Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (ÇOMU) has applied to the Culture and Tourism Ministry to carry out the archaeological excavations at the ancient city of Troy in the northwestern province of Çanakkale.

Excavations at the site have been carried out by foreign institutions for 150 years. Germany’s Tubingen University has been conducting excavations since 1998, first headed by Professor Manfred Osman Korfmann and then by Professor Ernst Pernicka since 2005. The university halted excavations because of financial problems in 2012. In a written statement, ÇOMU Rector, Professor Sedat Laçiner, said Turkish universities were experienced enough to carry out international excavations such as those at Troy.

“Foreigners worked for very short periods of time and spent very little money. We think the Troy excavations will be accelerated with ÇOMU. Its team is made up of very experienced archaeologists,” Laçiner said. “The [Culture and Tourism] ministry has resources for the excavations and the university will also allocate some. We are also thinking of private financial providers. In this way, resources for excavations will increase five fold.”

Why this has suddenly become news is beyond me. Back in October we noted a UW-Madison press release outlining an expedition heading to Troy under the direction of William Aylward. That press release also noted the participation/partnership/under the auspices with COMU (UW-Madison Heads to Troy). So why did it take so long for this to make the Turkish papers?

rogueclassicism: 1. n. an abnormal state or condition resulting from the forced migration from a lengthy Classical education into a profoundly unClassical world; 2. n. a blog about Ancient Greece and Rome compiled by one so afflicted (v. "rogueclassicist"); 3. n. a Classics blog.